KNF1013 Engineering Mathematics I

Semester 1 Session 2014/2015

Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

Assignment 3

Instructions:
1. This is an individual work assignment.
2. Answer ALL two questions.
3. Front page MUST be attached with the Assessment Cover Sheet and stamped
with the date of submission. (Stamp available at the FK counter. Please download
the standard format of the Assessment Cover Sheet provided in e-Morpheus).
4. Dateline of submission is on Monday, 29 December 2014 5:00PM.
5. Late submission and submission without stamp date will NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Engineering Applications of Differentiation

Question 1
The position function of a free fall object near the earth surface is given by the formula
=

2
2

+ 0 + 0 , where the value of g is approximately -32 ft/sec2 , 0 is the initial

velocity and 0 is the initial position.

Given, an emergency food supplies are dropped from a helicopter and hit the ground 10
sec later.
a) What is the height h of the helicopter from the ground?
(Hint: Take initial velocity and initial position as zero)
b) The box in which the supplies are packed is strong enough to withstand a speed of
180 miles/hr on impact. Will the supplies be intact?
c) What is the maximum height at which the helicopter can be positioned to guarantee
that the box will not break up when it hits the ground?

Question 2
Consider a can as shown in Figure 1 below, which has a capacity of 500 ml. The cost of
manufacture is proportional to the amount of metal used, which in turn is proportional to
the surface area of the can. Ignoring the overlaps necessary for the manufacture of the can,
find the diameter, d and height, h of the can which minimizes its cost of manufacturing.

Figure 1: Can with a capacity of 500 ml.